AWeber vs GetResponse (2026): Which Email Marketing Tool Wins?

Quick verdict: GetResponse wins overall for marketers who need powerful automation, conversion funnels, and built-in webinars. AWeber wins for beginners who want simplicity, 600+ templates, and outstanding customer support on every plan — including the free tier. If you just need to send newsletters and want someone to call when things break, go with AWeber. If you want a full marketing platform that grows with you, GetResponse is the better investment. (For a broader view of how both stack up, see our best email marketing platforms for creators guide.)

AWeber vs GetResponse at a Glance

Before we dig into the details, here is how AWeber and GetResponse stack up across the categories that matter most.

Pricing Comparison

Both platforms price by subscriber count, but there are important differences in what you get for your money.

AWeber caps your monthly email sends at 10x your subscriber count on Lite (so 1,000 subscribers = 10,000 emails/month). GetResponse gives you unlimited sends on every paid plan. If you email your list frequently, that difference adds up fast.

Side-by-Side Pricing (Monthly Billing)

At every subscriber tier from 1,000 upward, GetResponse Starter is cheaper than AWeber Lite — and you get unlimited email sends instead of a capped multiplier. The price gap is small (a few dollars), but GetResponse consistently undercuts AWeber while offering more sends.

Annual Billing

AWeber Lite drops to $12.50/month ($150/year) at the 500-subscriber tier with annual billing — roughly a 16.7% discount. GetResponse Starter drops to $15.58/month with annual billing (18% discount).

Higher-Tier Plans

For more advanced features, here is how the plans compare:

GetResponse Marketer costs roughly 2x AWeber Plus, but you get conversion funnels, abandoned cart recovery, and deeper automation capabilities. Whether that is worth the premium depends on whether you actually need those marketing features. For a budget-friendly alternative to both, see our Brevo vs MailerLite comparison — both start under $10/month.

Bottom line on pricing: GetResponse offers more value per dollar at scale with unlimited sends and lower per-subscriber costs. AWeber is slightly cheaper only at the smallest list sizes (500 subscribers).

Email Editor and Templates

AWeber: 600+ Templates and Smart Designer

AWeber has one of the largest template libraries in the email marketing space. With 600+ pre-built templates spanning newsletters, promotions, announcements, and more, you will almost always find something close to what you need without starting from scratch.

The standout feature is Smart Designer — paste your website URL and AWeber’s AI automatically generates branded email templates that match your site’s colors, fonts, and logo. It is available on every plan, including free. For small business owners who are not designers, this saves real time.

The drag-and-drop editor is straightforward with content blocks for images, buttons, products, coupons, and even RSS feeds (great for automated blog digest emails).

GetResponse: Solid Editor with AI Assistance

GetResponse offers a capable drag-and-drop email creator with newsletter templates. The template library is not as large as AWeber’s 600+, but the templates are modern and well-designed.

Where GetResponse shines is its AI email generator (powered by OpenAI). You can describe what you want and the AI generates full email drafts, subject lines, and content — a feature that goes beyond simple template selection.

GetResponse also includes send-time optimization with “Perfect Timing” and “Time Travel” features that analyze subscriber behavior to automatically send emails when each contact is most likely to open them.

Winner: AWeber for template variety and the Smart Designer feature. GetResponse takes the edge on AI-powered content generation.

Marketing Automation

This is where the two platforms diverge the most. GetResponse is the clear winner for automation.

AWeber’s Automation

AWeber keeps automation simple — maybe too simple for growing businesses:

• Free plan: 1 automation workflow
• Lite plan ($15/mo): 3 automation workflows
• Plus plan ($30/mo): Unlimited automation workflows

Even on the Plus plan, AWeber’s automation builder handles the basics (welcome sequences, tag-based triggers, simple if/then logic) but lacks the depth of dedicated marketing automation platforms.

There is no A/B testing on Free or Lite plans, and segmentation is limited to 1 custom segment until you upgrade to Plus.

GetResponse’s Automation

GetResponse treats automation as a core feature, not an add-on:

• Starter plan ($19/mo): 1 custom workflow
• Marketer plan ($59/mo): Unlimited workflows with visual builder, behavioral triggers, conditions, and advanced actions
• Creator plan ($69/mo): Everything in Marketer plus webinars and course tools

The Marketer plan’s visual automation builder lets you create complex multi-step sequences based on subscriber behavior: email opens, link clicks, page visits, purchases, and more. You can branch workflows with conditions, add wait steps, and score contacts — capabilities that AWeber simply does not match.

GetResponse also adds abandoned cart recovery and ecommerce tracking on the Marketer plan, making it a real marketing automation platform rather than just an email sender.

Winner: GetResponse, by a wide margin. If automation is a priority, GetResponse’s Marketer plan justifies its higher price.

Free Plan Comparison

Both platforms offer free plans, but they are built for different users.

AWeber’s free plan is clearly more generous. You get more monthly sends (3,000 vs 2,500), an actual automation workflow (vs none), web push notifications, ecommerce capabilities, and — most importantly — 24/7 live chat and email support with phone available 8 AM–8 PM ET. Most email marketing platforms do not even offer phone support on paid plans, let alone free ones.

GetResponse’s free plan does include a 14-day premium trial that unlocks all paid features temporarily, which is useful for testing. But once that trial ends, you lose automation entirely.

Winner: AWeber, hands down. The free plan is one of the most feature-rich in the industry.

Unique Features

GetResponse: The All-in-One Marketing Platform

GetResponse has positioned itself as more than an email tool. These features set it apart:

• Built-in webinar hosting (Creator plan, $69/mo): Host live webinars for up to 100 attendees (Enterprise: 500-1,000). No Zoom integration needed — it is all inside GetResponse. This is genuinely unique among email marketing tools.
• Online course creator (Creator plan): An AI-powered course builder that lets you create and sell courses to up to 500 students. Includes content hosting and payment processing.
• Conversion funnels (Marketer plan, $59/mo): Pre-built sales funnels that connect landing pages, email sequences, and payment processing into automated pipelines.
• Paid newsletter subscriptions (Creator plan): Monetize your email list with premium subscriptions — readers pay for exclusive content.
• Website builder (Creator plan): Build a basic website without needing a separate platform.
• Live chat (Marketer plan): Add a chat widget to your website, integrated with your email contacts.
• Web push notifications (Marketer plan): Send browser push notifications to subscribers.

AWeber: Simplicity with Key Differentiators

AWeber does not try to be everything, but it does a few things exceptionally well:

• Phone and live support on all plans (including free): 24/7 live chat and email, plus phone support 8 AM–8 PM ET. For solo entrepreneurs and small teams without technical staff, this is invaluable.
• Smart Designer: Paste a URL, get branded email templates automatically. No design skills needed.
• 600+ email templates: The largest template library among major email marketing tools.
• Free migration service: AWeber’s team will migrate your contacts, templates, and automations from your current platform within 5 business days — at no charge.
• RSS-to-email: Automatically turn blog posts into email newsletters. Great for content creators.
• Web push notifications on all plans: Even free users get browser push notifications.

Takeaway: GetResponse offers more total features and positions itself as a complete marketing suite. AWeber focuses on doing email well with outstanding support.

Integrations

AWeber connects with 750+ apps and services — WordPress, Shopify, PayPal, Canva, Unsplash, and hundreds more. This is one of the widest integration ecosystems in the email marketing space.

GetResponse offers 170+ integrations including Shopify, WordPress, WooCommerce, PayPal, and Stripe. The selection covers the essentials, but it is significantly narrower than AWeber’s.

If you rely on niche tools or need to connect your email platform to a wide variety of third-party services, AWeber has a clear advantage. For most common use cases (ecommerce platforms, CMS, payment processors), both platforms have you covered.

Winner: AWeber, with over 4x the integration options.

Customer Support

This is AWeber’s biggest advantage and it is not close.

AWeber offers 24/7 email and live chat support on every single plan — including the free plan, plus phone support 8 AM–8 PM ET. This level of support accessibility is almost unheard of in the SaaS industry. Most competitors either gate phone support behind expensive plans or do not offer it at all.

GetResponse provides 24/7 chat support on paid plans and phone support only on the Enterprise plan (custom pricing). Free plan users get no live support at all.

For beginners, small business owners, or anyone who wants the reassurance of being able to pick up the phone and talk to a human when something goes wrong, AWeber is the obvious choice.

Winner: AWeber, decisively. Support alone could be the deciding factor for many users.

Who Should Choose AWeber

• Email marketing beginners who want a simple interface, guided setup, and someone to call when they get stuck (AWeber also ranks high on our list of best email marketing platforms for creators)
• Solo entrepreneurs and freelancers who need a generous free plan with real support
• Content creators and bloggers who want RSS-to-email and a massive template library
• Small businesses without technical staff that value phone access (8 AM–8 PM ET) and 24/7 chat over advanced features
• Users migrating from another platform — AWeber handles the migration for free within 5 business days
• Anyone who sends infrequent emails to a small list (under 1,000 subscribers) and does not need complex automation
• Teams needing wide integration support with 750+ connected apps

Who Should Choose GetResponse

• Growing businesses that need powerful marketing automation with behavioral triggers and branching workflows
• Course creators and educators who want to build and sell courses inside their email platform
• Marketers running webinars who want built-in hosting without paying for a separate tool
• Ecommerce businesses that need abandoned cart recovery, product recommendations, and conversion funnels
• Content monetizers looking to launch paid newsletter subscriptions
• Teams at 5K+ subscribers where GetResponse’s lower per-contact pricing and unlimited sends deliver better value
• Data-driven marketers who want A/B testing, send-time optimization, and advanced segmentation on entry-level paid plans

Not sold on either? Check out our best AWeber alternatives or best GetResponse alternatives for more options.

Related Comparisons

• GetResponse vs Mailchimp: Full Comparison — automation and webinar differences in detail
• Kit vs Mailchimp: Full Comparison — creator tools vs all-purpose marketing hub
• Brevo vs Kit: Full Comparison — multi-channel suite vs creator-first platform
• Brevo vs ActiveCampaign: Full Comparison — budget power vs automation king
• Best Email Marketing for Creators 2026 — full field comparison
• Explore alternatives: AWeber Alternatives | GetResponse Alternatives | Brevo Alternatives
• In-depth reviews: MailerLite Review 2026 | Brevo Review 2026

Last updated: March 2026. We regularly update this content — if something has changed, let us know.